Alloy.



and is much harder than STATES {PATENT OFFICE.

BOOK 8. COOPER. O1 CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOB TO THE COOPER RESEARCH COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION.

5 of Ohio, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in' Alloys, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved alloy, comprising aluminum and beryllium.

n and my ob ect is to combine these metals in suitable proportions to provide an alloy of superior properties and characteristics compared with other light-weight metal alloys m use or known at t e present time.

5 In the periodic table, beryllium is classed with several other metals, among which are the light metals magnesium and calcium. In appearance it, is of a silvery color, and is permanent in air. It. is very ductile and n malleable. and-the melting point'which is about 1500 C. is very high for a metal of this class. It is slightly heavier than magnesium with a specific gravity of about 1.80. It is not aflected by water, either hot orcold, aluminum, calcium or magnesium.

The most'common mineral containing this metal is beryl which contains about twelve per cent.- of the oxid and is a silicate of this 0 metal with aluminum. This mineral is quite widely distributed throughout the world and isfound in large amounts in the Eastern States 'of this-country where it occurs in massive crystals of several hundred pounds in wei ht. r To 0 tain alloys of this metal with aluminum at a relatively low cost commercially one procedure is to subject to the action oi an electric current a bath containing the mixed oxide of aluminum and beryllium, which are held in solution, said bathbeing of course a conducting medium, and inithis manner obtain an alloy of the two me'tals at a much lower cost than if'salts of these two metals were first separated by chemical means, the metals then extractedand melted.

to ther to make the alloys ahere the method employed in the extraction of beryllium is expensive, I prefer I to make the alloy of preponderating amounts of aluminum and lesser amounts of beryllium, usmgsueh relatively amounts ALLOY.

' 1,254,987.- n at letter! nt- Patented Jan. 29, 1918.

no Drawing. lppllcatlonflledoctobcr 15, 1911. Serial No. 190,592.

of beryllium as will impart to aluminum sufliclent valuable properties as to justify the production of this alloy on a commercial scale. \Vhere the method permits the production of beryllium at a low cost, an allo made of a preponderating amount of bcry lium is preferred, 'such alloy being much lighter in weight for one thin than an alloy having a lower percentage of eryllium.

An alloy prepared by melting together the two metals named is much stronger than certain limits the alloy is ductile and malleable, and may be drawn, rolled or pressed into various products.

I have found that small amounts of this element, say from one to five per cent., combined with aluminum, greatly increases the tensile strength of aluminum, even beyond that obtained with magnesium; and by increasing these amounts it ispossible to retain this strength and at the same time produce alloys variably lighter than aluminum,

depending upon the amount of beryllium contained.

Undera high cost of beryllium, it is advisable to use from one per cent. to about twenty per cent., beryllium, with the balance aluminum. However, alloys with preponderating amounts of beryllium, say from sixty-five per cent. to about ninety-nine per cent. will prove even more valuable commercially where the cost is reduced, bein much lighter than the former alloys an from twenty per cent. to thirty per cent. lighter than aluminum.

What I claim is: 1. An alloy composed of the metals aluminum and beryllium.

. 2. An alloy, comprising aluminum and pine per cent, to ninety-nine per cent. beryl- 3. An alloy comprising be llium and a metal in the class embracing ,ummum.

4. An alloy possessing greater strength 6. An alloy, composed of one to twenty and less weight than aluminum, comprising per cent. beryllium, with. the balancenlu- 1 aluminum and beryllium, the aluminunabeminum. ing in preponde'rating amount. Signed at Cleveland, in the county of 5 5. An alloy which 1s stronger, harder and Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, this 10th day of lighter weight than aluminum, consisting of October, 1917.

of a uminum and less than sixty-five per cent. beryllium. HUGH S. COOPER. 

